


Old Acquaintance

by cystemic



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic
Genre: Chiss, F/M, Sith Empire, Soren - Freeform, raya - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-26
Updated: 2017-11-26
Packaged: 2019-02-07 06:13:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12835008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cystemic/pseuds/cystemic
Summary: Raya gets transferred to Dromund Kaas and discovers she's a little too familiar with Cipher 9. Timeline somewhere during the first chapter of the Imperial Agent story, not long after Balmorra.





	1. Welcome to Dromund Kaas

Raya sauntered into Imperial Intelligence Headquarters like it was nobody's business. Having taken down three targets in a single day, she felt pretty good about herself as she made her way into the bowels of the menacing Citadel in the centre of Kaas City.

On the inside, it was all smiles and sunshine, the high of a well-completed mission tripling her self-confidence but on the outside, it was the same grim-faced, blue-skinned Chiss woman who marched into the turbolift. 

Raya caught her reflection in the shiny durasteel doors and sighed.

 _‘You can take the girl out of the Ascendancy but you can't take the Ascendancy out of the girl,’_ she thought to herself grimly.

Five years since Raya escaped the Shadow Operative Training Program. Five years since she’d left Naporar and the Chiss Ascendancy behind. It had been a great honour for her family to bear a child selected to enrol in the program at the age of six. 

But to Raya, it had just been an incredible pain. 

Her entire life had turned into one long and intense training session since the day she said, “ma’resh,” and she hated it with a passion that still burned in her heart whenever she thought about it.

Though Chiss matured far quicker than Humans, both physically and mentally, at twelve years old, Raya was still very much a girl. She wanted love and adventure and broad horizons which a fully-fledged Shadow Operative in service of the Ascendancy could never have. 

So she ran.

A beautiful young woman could get anything she wanted in the Outer Rim, particularly one so well versed in assassination and espionage. She took her time sampling all the gifts the galaxy could offer and soon grew accustomed to the finer things in life. A thirst for credits led her to becoming a successful mercenary and Raya did quite well for herself. 

Until she decided to scam the Hutts.

The casinos were so poorly guarded to her well-trained eye, the machines so easily rigged and manipulated with the right equipment, the Hutts distracted by her wit and charms. But despite her excellent Sabacc face, Raya found herself in hot water with the Hutt clans and that's when the Empire swooped in to rescue her. They offered to wipe the slate clean in exchange for a few priority kills which she executed flawlessly. 

She'd been on the payroll for Imperial Intelligence ever since.

The turbolift doors opened and Raya stepped out into the dim light of a dozen giant viewscreens plastering the dark walls; a great big holo-terminal in the centre. Several deep crevices had been cut into the floor where a gaggle of genetically engineered Humans sat staring at their own personal computer terminals, analyzing data. 

They were called Watchers. Their task was to collect, collate, analyze and classify top secret information funneling in from every corner of the galaxy.

Raya didn't much care for the nerds in their little pits, especially when they pulled the species card. 

Very few aliens were allowed into Imperial Intelligence Headquarters. Most of them were employed offworld and received assignments through third parties or holocommunication. They didn't want aliens in the capital, that was clear.

It was through the unfortunate death of the Agent who usually worked assassination contracts that Raya had been temporarily reassigned to Dromund Kaas. She'd only spent a few weeks enjoying the humid hell but the almost entirely Human populace was impossible to ignore and they made a point of emphasizing her inferiority despite her flawless track record. 

It would have bothered her if they didn't pay so well. Though she'd heard some bigshot Chiss had recently been promoted to Cipher Agent. Which wasn't all that hard to believe since Ciphers were predominantly infiltrators, sometimes going undercover for years at a time, losing all sense of identity. 

Raya knew from her years of extensive training that every minute you spent with an enemy increased the likelihood of your death tenfold. So it came as no surprise that Cipher Agents dropped like stink-flies, even the highly trained specialists. It was only a matter of time before they ran out of Human candidates but Raya still felt a little bitter that they hadn't offered her the position.

 _‘Oh, well,’_ she thought to herself, _‘would have turned it down anyway.’_

She walked past the pits and spotted Watcher 2, her main liaison, chatting to someone she could only see from behind. 

Judging by the dark blue hair, it must have been the Cipher Agent she was just thinking about.

 _‘Well, hello there,’_ she thought to herself, eyeing his backside with lustful interest.

She could see the lean muscle of his athletic physique, taut through the tight-fitting Imperial uniform.

 _‘Oooh, please don't be a banthaface...’_ she moaned inwardly, her exterior as strict and professional as ever.

Sensing a lull in their conversation, Raya spoke up.

"Watcher 2, I've returned from my assignments," she announced behind the Agent's back.

The woman glanced over the Cipher's shoulder at Raya's patiently neutral expression and raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Already?" she asked, stepping out of his way.

"Yes, all three targets neutralized, sir," Raya reported.

"Oh. Excellent work, Agent Korfumi." She touched the man's shoulder. "I don't believe you've met Cipher 9..."

He turned slowly and Raya's heart sang. 

She drank in the strong jaw, the tall cheekbones, the glowing red eyes and his sapphire skin. He was so handsome and he even looked somewhat familiar. He was...

No, he couldn’t be.

Raya's heart sank as low as it had risen when she realized who she was looking at. Her lips tightened and her eyes widened, undetectable to a Human but to a Chiss?

She blinked slowly trying to cast away those thoughts but deep down, she knew.

His name was Soren and he was the only man she had ever loved.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Agent," he said in his smooth, professional voice.

Did he not recognize her? Did she look that old? How did he get here? Why was he working for the Empire? Why wasn't he back in the Ascendancy?

Raya's mind frantically plucked the images of a younger Soren out of her memories, trying to confirm whether she had misidentified him or if he really had changed that much.

She remembered the boy that joined the Shadow Operative Training Program at five years old, the youngest of the intake. 

A year's difference didn't seem incredibly important now but it put him at a great disadvantage when they commenced training. For a Chiss, the physical difference between a five year old and a six year old could be staggering and for Soren, it was. He was at least a head shorter than every other cadet in the Program but now...

He was taller than Raya. His face had broadened too. It was a man's jaw, not a boy's. He had definitely grown in size, but his eyes... 

Those fiery red eyes were as cold as the night on Csilla's icy moons.

It had to be him.

"Uh, likewise," Raya heard herself reply a little stiffly.

"Cipher 9 was just telling me how the Chiss usually refer to each other by rank so he doesn't mind juggling all these codenames," Watcher 2 said, trying to be conversational, but it backfired awfully, devolving into an incredibly awkward silence.

Raya stared into Soren's eyes.

Emotionless, as always.

She had fallen for the man behind the mask. The one that could joke and laugh and whisper how much he cared about her but that brief window of time was now closed forever.

Raya would never forget how much she hated him. How he kept turning down her her advances when she was ordered to seduce him. The Shadow Operative Training Program had a psychologcal component which paired up the cadets and forced them to use their inherent sexual prowess to extract information. It hadn't worked as expected.

But despite the rough start, Raya enjoyed every moment of their time together, of that brief summer when his frozen heart melted for hers and they were inseparable. But soon he became moody and thoughtful again. His responsibilities to the Ascendancy weighed heavily on his mind and it wasn't long before he told her it had to end, that they had completed their assignment and it was time to move on if they wanted to become operatives.

And Raya remembered the horrible tantrum she had thrown in response, along with numerous projectile objects which soon expanded into her collection of hidden blades and grenades. Soren tried not to engage as best he could but Raya threatened to kill him more than once. It was really embarrassing, now that she thought about it.

She pinned him down to make him listen. He begged for her to stop, to let him go but Raya wouldn't have it.

 _"Forget the Abacupfi, forget the Ascendancy! Let's leave this place. We can be together..."_ she had pleaded.

But Soren gave her one last heart-warming smile before the mask slipped back on. Permanently. 

He refused to leave, refused to abandon his duty and he left her.

And Raya cried.

All night.

Which was not healthy for a Chiss to do and in her despair she had done a few questionable things she was not proud of. Like steal a cadaver from a morgue and plant her genetic material on it and then throw it off a cliff with a flimsi suicide note pinned to the body...

It was a little dramatic to be sure but she wanted to hurt him as much as he hurt her.

Irreparably.

"Well, I suppose I'll leave you to discuss the details of your mission," Soren spoke, seamlessly blaming the awkward silence on himself and deflecting any further questions from Watcher 2.

"Very well, Cipher. You have your orders. Good luck," she replied.

"Thank you, sir.” He nodded and walked off. A moment later, it was as though he had never been there. 

Raya relayed the details of her assassinations to Watcher 2 who took mental notes as she spoke.

"Well, I had thought this assignment would take you a few days but it seems I underestimated you, Agent. I apologize," she said. "Payment will be transferred to your discretionary account and if we have further need of you, a Watcher will be in contact within the week."

"Understood," Raya yessired and politely farewelled the Watcher before spinning on her heel and walking out of the room, shaken to the core.

She entered the turbolift and pressed a button to take her back to the surface. 

Her lip was quivering, her eyes threatening to spill tears.

No. This couldn't happen. Not here.

She began a mental meditation, quietly deepening her breathing as she had been taught to do. And in a few moments, her mind was clear and her face solemn once again. She couldn't show weakness. Not in the middle of the heavily surveillanced Imperial Intelligence Headquarters. There were too many people watching.

She left the building with a quick step and marched out of the Citadel towards the speeder stop just outside. There were plenty of people crowded around the dispatcher droid which was doing its best to allocate transport to the bustling Imperials. 

Raya lined up behind them, blending into the throng as much as a blue-skinned, red-eyed alien woman could do.

She still got weird looks from the Imperials whose xenophobia was increasingly prevalent towards alien species but they could not deny Raya's beauty either. She caught an officer staring at her tight black leggings, following the curve of her hip with his eye and lingering on the crease between her butt cheeks.

"Like what you see?" she whispered to him in a sultry voice and watched him recoil in embarrassment. They may not like aliens but they certainly had no trouble ogling them.

The Imperial military was overly male-dominated and Raya knew exactly how to take advantage of a man starved for affection in the rigorous enterprise of war-mongering. 

She wore tight black armourweave which hugged her curves, accentuating her waist, breasts and posterior. A thin layer of black shimmersilk covered the armour, giving the illusion of vulnerability. The bodysuit looked like it had been painted on to her skin and shone erotically whenever she swayed her hips or shifted her arms. A low-cut V shape slid down past her breastbone, revealing but still containing her prominent chest with a thin silver chain.

Everything was laid out by design.

Raya was a master at the art of seduction, capable of walking up to her targets in broad daylight and injecting untraceable poisons into their bloodstream with a gentle caress of the face. 

The Bounty Hunter's Guild called her Nightshade. A fitting moniker, for when her feminine wiles failed to get the job done, a poisoned blade from an invisible hand would.

Raya moved up the queue, slowly progressing through the gaggle of argumentative old men fuming at being served after one or more of their peers. She remained expressionless but deep down, if she heard one of them ask for the manager one more time, there was a good chance someone would lose their head.

While they bickered, Raya caught sight of a mouse droid skimming the edge of the speeder platform. It beeped contiguously to no one in particular, weaving its way between the many feet.

 _‘Stupid droids,’_ she thought bitterly.

She followed its progress through the crowd, wondering to whom it could belong but the whirring wheely box quickly vanished. 

Distracted, she missed the opportunity to step up in the line and an overzealous Imperial pushed in front of her to secure his transport. Raya was about to argue but just as she opened her mouth, something slammed into her foot and she swallowed a squeal of pain.

The wayward mouse droid had purposefully run over Raya's shoe and quickly darted away into the crowd before she could pick it up. 

Flustered, she raised her foot off the ground to check for damage to her favourite lacquered boots. There were several visible scratches but Raya suddenly felt indifferent towards them as she peeled off the piece of flimsiplast which had been stuck to her heel.

She unravelled the crumpled flimsi, her fingers spreading over a beautiful spiral of foreign characters which bloomed from the centre into vines of blue ink. It wasn't Basic. And anyone other than a Chiss would have mistaken it for a drawing or a logotype but Raya knew exactly what it was.

 _‘In darkness, light,_  
In daylight, bright.  
Beneath you may find,  
a restless mind,’ she read the Cheunh inscription and smiled.

Soren's notes were always so cryptic. Even if another Chiss had picked up the note by mistake, it would have been meaningless.

She looked out over the precipice beyond the platform of the speeder station. The massive metropolis of metal spacescrapers that was Kaas City stretched out in all directions; each building shining and reflecting the intermittent lightning from its many transparisteel panes. Rain drizzled down beyond the station roof and dark storm clouds permanently loomed over the mighty city whose foggy airways gave it a dark blue hue.

Perpetual storms had necessitated that every building in Kaas City be outlined with strips of bright white light for public safety. It was dangerous enough driving in the rain without being able to see where you were going but in daylight, they often grew fainter, not brighter.

 _‘Mmmm...’_ Raya thought to herself.

Perhaps he was talking about the floating statue in the middle of the city plaza? There was almost 15 tonnes of durasteel floating above the illuminated boardwalks, circling a huge light sphere in the centre of the city. It was purely decorative but incredibly awe-inspiring for newcomers and visitors. The Sith were mighty keen on showing off their power and influence that way.

But the opulent monument was powered by the same technology as the rest of the light sources in the city and in rare cases of daylight, they lost the vibrance which made them so beautiful at night.

Raya frowned slightly. This shouldn't be that difficult. From the Imperial Citadel, she could see almost the entirety of Kaas City. If there was an answer to this riddle, it had to be here.

"Destination?" asked the dispatcher droid as Raya's turn to board a speeder finally arrived.

"Ehmmm," Raya ummed in surprise.

The Imperial officers behind her began to moan and groan about being late to an incredibly important function at the Nexus Room Cantina and Raya suddenly realized where she needed to go.

In the South-Western quadrant of the Kaas City center sat an enormous bioluminescent crystal which the Sith had purified of harmful energies but its fluorescence had not diminished. It glowed violet through dark nights and bright days and beneath it, the Imperials had constructed hangars and warehouses which a certain pair of secret agents could sneak into through the Cantina's lower levels.

"Nexus Room," Raya said to the droid as it processed her request.

"Authorized vehicles are for official business only," the droid warned.

Raya flashed a code cylinder at its ocular receptors and the machine changed its tone.

"I see you have the proper clearance. You are free to use speeder 5. Enjoy your stay in Kaas City," it vocabulated.

"Oh, I will..." she muttered as she got into the speeder.

The Nexus Room was a popular watering hole among the Sith and Imperial military alike. Some mingled together on the dancefloors or the stylish booths on the ground floor. While others preferred to segregate themselves from the crowd by hiring opulent private rooms to show wealth and power to the Dromund Kaas elite who came calling. And below the many light and music-filled levels above, there was an average cantina which catered to the dank and downtrodden of the Empire's underbelly.

Several heads turned as Raya walked into the dark chamber. It was mostly aliens and bounty hunters that graced this floor and upon seeing Nightshade walk in with her usual death stare, they all went silently back to drinking. 

It was not wise to pick a fight or make lewd comments to the alluring Chiss woman who had nailed a Trandoshan's tongue to the bar with a vibroblade a few weeks back. There was the occasional Mandalorian who thought she was worth the hunt and sidled up to her at the bar but most often they went home disappointed and limping.

"Malt Lisander," Raya ordered from the bartender droid. It was the fifth one in three days.

Brawls on the bottom level were common and many a barkeep had been maimed beyond recognition before the Nexus Room management opted for a droid replacement. Raya sat down on one of the hover stools at the tall bar and waited for her drink to arrive. This had to look natural.

She planned to down a couple of light drinks, followed by some heavier liquor for courage and then make for the refresher in the back. The cantina wasn't quite packed but no one would miss her after twenty minutes.

Her drink arrived in a tall glass and she traced the edge with a finger, spreading a thin layer of poison neutralizer before taking a sip. The simple precaution had saved her life multiple times.

So she sipped quietly, contemplating her prospective meeting with Soren.

What was she going to say? 

What was _he_ going to say?

Five years since the... incident. He must have been even more surprised than she was, supposedly dead and all. 

Raya had never dreamed of seeing him again, especially as an Imperial. It seemed so counter-intuitive to everything he had ever stood for. Perhaps he was so heartbroken after her little charade that he decided to leave home? Was it too much to hope he still loved her?

 _‘Pull yourself together,’_ Raya thought, sipping her drink.

She was never this nervous when it came to seducing a target. 

A venerable Imperial General withholding military secrets? 

No problem. 

A crusty old Mandalorian with rancor breath and a bad attitude? 

Easy. 

The man she loved with all her heart and soul? 

Bit tricky, that.

Still, to be given this chance, just to speak to him, filled her with joy and she felt a tiny smile brighten her face.

"Hey, bright eyes!" growled a voice behind Raya.

Gravelly, deep, high decibel range. Most likely Houk. Raya took another sip of her drink without turning. Maybe he wasn't talking to her. Maybe he'd leave her alone if she didn't give him a rise.

And if not?

It would be his funeral.

"Hey, I'm talking to you!" croaked the stranger as he stomped over to the bar.

Raya skulled the remains of her Lisander and gripped the glass tightly, there was always some frag-head who thought he was hot snot. 

The huge brown hand of an alien crashed down onto the bar next to Raya's elbow but she didn't flinch.

She released the glass in her hand and rested her chin on the palm of the other, framing her beautiful face with five long, elegant fingers before she turned to look at him.

"Can I help you?" she purred.

The Houk mercenary lost the edge in his voice, replacing it with a hungry chortle.

"Hehe, you could say that, cheeka." The Houk smiled with his big, blubbery mouth.

"Name's TuMarr, you've probably heard of me..." He raised an eyebrow and gave Raya a self-indulgent smirk.

"No, I don't believe I have," she replied shyly, batting her eyes.

"Hnngh?" he grunted. "Well, I've hearda you... _Nightshade,"_ he hissed in her ear.

"You must have excellent hearing." Raya smiled.

"Yeah, I do. 'Cause I also heard that someone whacked ol' Stornak the Stim Lord today," the Houk growled.

"Oh, how unfortunate," Raya replied calmly, rubbing Stornak's blood off her boots against the bar.

"And y'know, ol' Stornak owed plenty of folks in here, money..."

"Sounds like he got off easy, then."

"Cut the shmid, I know it was you who aced him. And guess what? I want my credits," the Houk growled.

"I don't suppose we could come to some... understanding." Raya sighed, squeezing her shoulders together to frame her breasts.

"Hehe... well. I might be willing to... uuh…"

She reached a hand up to caress his giant leathery head and leaned in close to whisper in her sultry voice. 

"Why don't we head out the back?"

She passed her tongue over her full upper lip and smiled as the Houk melted into an excited gaggle of giggles and grunts. Her hand drifted over his chest and stroked his huge muscly fist to entice him.

Then she slowly swivelled her legs off the hover stool. They opened to catch the dim light above the bar at just the right angle. She rose in an arcing curve, her smooth and serene movements reminiscent of an underwater ballet.

TuMarr giddily followed the sway of her hips as she glided past the bar and towards the refresher in the back. The other patrons paid them little mind; a few grumbling that the hideous Houk was about to get lucky but otherwise, placid faces all around.

Raya slipped into the decrepit refresher as though she were entering a bedroom. She had the Houk hanging on her every movement as he trampled along after her, eager to receive his _payment._

Her scarlet eyes glowed in the semi-darkness as the light of the refresher flickered on. 

She beckoned TuMarr with a finger as she kicked a cubicle door open.

The Houk eagerly began detrousering as he rushed into the stall and Raya shifted around behind him, turning to push the huge alien onto the seat with her boot. She undid the clasp between her breasts and leaned forward as TuMarr felt the stirrings of pleasure in his nether regions. He closed his eyes as Raya stroked his face, seamlessly slipping a tiny pill into his open mouth.

It took him a moment for him to realize what had happened but that was enough for the pill's casing to dissolve in his saliva and release the corrosive liquid within, melting away his vocal chords. 

Raya stood back and watched as he struggled to breathe while his throat caved in and his insides liquefied. A moment later, the acid reached his stomach and she could hear the faint pop as his innards exploded within his massive body.

She didn't need to kill him, of course. She could have satisfied him and parted ways but she didn't want to be soiled by the Houk's disgusting load before her prospective meeting with Soren.

Raya walked out of the cubicle and wiped her hands with disinfectant and poison neutralizer. Suicide capsules were a standard piece of any Agent's kit but Shadow Operatives took it one step further. 

The Liquidation Pill was to be used in extreme circumstances to disintegrate the body, breaking down the genetic structure from within to create an organic biomass that was completely unrecognizable, leaving no trace of the Operative's existence.

Raya had never been the strongest believer in the Chiss ideals of duty before all else. She was never going to use the LP-3 on herself but that didn't mean she couldn't use it on others. 

In an hour or two, the Houk would resemble a puddle of vomit that some poor droid would have to clean up. She locked the cubicle to make sure he would have enough time to stew and turned to the mirror in the dingy refresher room to inspect her appearance.

Hair? Tumbling down her shoulders in long black curls. Eyes? Lined with sharp black wings and luscious black lashes. Nose? Powdered. Cheeks? Contoured. Neck? Blended. Lips? They could do with a bit more polish. 

Raya pulled out a compact from inside her right breast holster and began covering her lips in a deep black balm. The dark contours contrasted beautifully against her pale blue skin and gave her face a voluptuous hue. 

Aliens couldn't tell what was or wasn't natural for a Chiss and she could have caked on several more layers of those awful Imperial brand cosmetics if she wanted but Soren would know. He could always pick out what she was wearing, what fragrance she'd chosen. It had been one of their little practice exercises during training.

She'd taught him much about using makeup for concealment and infiltration purposes. A black eye or a puffy lip. A fake beard or a moustache. Even foundation, six layers thick to hide the blue skin, coupled with custom-made lenses to pass for Human. It had been a fun experiment but Raya preferred him the way he was. All he needed was a smile to charm the world.

She applied a thin layer of gloss to her lips and pouted them to test their effectiveness as they caught the light, almost as smooth as shimmersilk. Happy with her outward appearance, she stored her compact back in its holster and reattached the clasp between her breasts, letting the small chain dangle between them.

Raya took one last look at the closed cubicle behind her and slipped out of the refresher. 

It was time.


	2. Reunion

A nimble shadow snuck out the back of the cantina through a large durasteel grate and began climbing down into the abyss.

Kaas City towered so high above the jungle in which its foundations took root that those living above often forgot just how many levels ran deep below them. It was nowhere near as huge as the planet-wide city of Coruscant but the 300 or so stories down to the bottom of the canyon were no joke if you happened to fall off the top.

The Sith and the brass of Imperial military regaled the uppermost levels with extravagant architecture and artifice, centring on the imposing and ominous Imperial Citadel. But even the bottom-most level of the Nexus Room Cantina barely skimmed the surface of the towers where the rest of the Imperial citizens dwelled in perpetual darkness.

Raya spotted a maintenance platform suspended directly beneath the Sith crystal she knew was above her and paused. Her keen eyes discovered a catwalk nearby that led directly to it and Raya wasted no time. She flung herself off the side of the building and expertly caught the railing in her hands, vaulting over to gracefully land on both feet.

The colossal crystal sat somewhere high above. And what was the ground on the surface, here, was the ceiling of an artificial cavern, constructed by the growing metropolis on both sides. 

The light was sparse but Raya's glowing eyes of scarlet had no trouble navigating the precarious platform. It soon widened around a durasteel pylon and she found Soren casually leaning against it with his rifle in his lap.

He was aiming through the railing, deep down into the abyss. His fiery eyes were fixed on the scope, observing something several hundred metres down below. 

He didn't look up as she approached, didn't speak, didn't move, didn't blink, didn't breathe. As far as Raya could tell.

She stopped at a respectable distance and waited. Her heart was beating a little faster than usual, trepidation eating away at her nerves as she wondered what to say.

Soren remained silent. He knew she was there but plainly wasn't interested in initiating a conversation.

Five years was a long time for a young Chiss.

Five years was a long time for anybody if one actually lived them. And Raya had lived a little too much after faking her own death it seemed.

Soren would not have forgotten. 

He remembered everything, always and forever. Her betrayal would be as fresh in his mind as the minute before now. The moment when they told him she was dead. 

Had he grieved? Cried? Or was she thinking too much of herself?

It was entirely possible he simply moved on with his life, writing off their relationship as an adolescent mistake that he should avoid in future. 

But he wasn't avoiding her now. Was he?

He'd sent the note with the droid. He'd told her where to meet and now he was here but he wasn't speaking. She'd been so caught up in the blustery euphoria of seeing him again that she really hadn't thought of an ice-breaker. Or in this case, an iceberg-breaker.

If she expected him to sweep her off her feet with kisses and proclamations of love she was greatly disappointed. This wasn't a happy reunion, but then again, how could it be?

"Well," he said finally. "Are you going to apologise?"

He didn't move.

Raya looked down at her feet, searching for her dignity. It was definitely her fault for overreacting but then she remembered. He was the one who broke it off in the first place and her reaction may not have been appropriate but it was definitely warranted.

And now, she had no qualms about speaking her mind. She wasn't a Shadow Operative, she wasn't in the Ascendancy. She could do as she pleased.

"Before or after you apologise to _me?"_ she threw back at him in Cheunh, the fire of their final argument reigniting within her.

She could see the miniscule movements of his face, invisible to the Human eye but to Raya, they were plain as day. The tiny quiver of a lip, the slight twitch of an ear and the silent snarl as he bristled. He hid his face in the scope of his sniper rifle, his lowered brow casting dark shadows over his eyes. 

He was furious.

"I loved you," she spat, “and you tore out my heart like it was one of your little toys."

"We should never have been together," he said as calmly as a storm.

"We should have been together forever. Just you and me," Raya declared, hands on her voluptuous hips.

"No, our duty is to the Ascendancy. _My_ duty is to the Ascendancy," Soren reaffirmed.

"There you go again. _'Duty first',"_ Raya scoffed. "You were always so smart, why can't you see that they're using you?"

“Like the Empire is using you?"

"Don't deflect. You know they were manipulating us, _all_ of us."

"Of course, I knew," Soren spat, his icy words gaining an edge. "Our job was to let them."

"What?"

"Our job was to let them mould us into weapons, tools that could be used for the good of the Ascendancy, not... whatever you are..." he said, shaking his head.

"I'm _free,"_ she replied, incensed at his insinuations. "I can go wherever I want. Do whatever I want. No Overseer looking over my shoulder."

"The Watchers-" he interjected.

"Those fools could never find me if I truly wanted to disappear," she said proudly.

"Yes, well, you've made that abundantly clear..." he murmured into his scope.

"Excuse me?!" Raya bristled, scarlet eyes flaming through the darkness.

"Do you know what happened after that little stunt you pulled?" Soren cooled off, slipping back into his expressionless mask.

"I spent six months in psych. evaluation because I refused to believe you were dead," he said coldly.

"You knew?" Raya breathed.

"Of course, I knew," he spat. "You are far too enamoured of yourself to commit suicide. You did it to screw with me, like you always do."

Raya lost her edge. 

She should have known. She may have fooled the Overseers and the medical examiner but there was no getting past his rigid, calculating mind; he knew her better than anyone.

"Then, you left the Ascendancy," she whispered solemnly, "...to find me?"

Could it be true? If he knew she was still alive, if he spent six months denying her death, could his resolve have brought them together again?

"No," he said simply and Raya's heart sank.

If he didn't leave to find her, then...

"You're here to infiltrate Imperial Intelligence," she realised, shoulders sagging.

Soren didn't respond. His attention was entirely down the other end of his scope as he moved into position to take the shot.

Raya watched as his breathing slowed, his limbs relaxed. Soon, he was stiller than the pylon he had been leaning against. She didn't notice him pull the trigger but she heard the hiss of the bolt escaping the rifle and soaring far into the abyss below.

"Dead?" Raya asked indifferently, eager to restart the conversation.

Soren remained still, observing his victim.

"Bugged," he whispered and sat up.

Satisfied that the device was successfully planted on his target, Soren breathed deeply and set his rifle aside. He took out a datapad and began tapping at the screen, monitoring the location of his tracer.

Raya observed from afar, watching his fingers run over the display, his arms resting on his knees, biceps strained against the military jacket.

She felt drawn to him, she couldn't help herself. She wanted to touch those fully formed muscles, feel the contours of his handsome face. It had been so long and he'd grown so much, she almost didn't recognize him.

Raya felt the time for conversation pass her by. She didn't need his words anymore. She needed him.

Silently, she crept up behind the dashing Chiss and looked down at the datapad he was fiddling with. Her gaze drifted between his legs and she wondered what else had grown since the last time she saw him. 

She closed her eyes, gnawing away at her lip. Would it be inappropriate?

She ventured to run a hand down the side of his face, gently caressing his cheek with the back of her fingers. Her heart skipped a beat, wondering if he would turn away, reject her. But he said nothing.

Uncaring and cold, as always.

But for Raya.

She leaned down to breathe in his ear, the right words finally forming in her mind.

 _"I missed you,"_ she whispered, breathing in the smell of his hair.

Soren stopped typing and let the datapad hang as she nuzzled his neck but he didn't recoil. She leaned in and kissed his cheek, brushing his hair away with a supple hand but that's when he moved to stop her.

He turned his head and opened his mouth to protest but before he could say anything, Raya locked onto his lips in a passionate kiss.

And it held.

Warm and soft and perfect, just like the first time and every time after that. It slowed seconds to a crawl and deformed the space around them into oblivion. She could have held it forever if he didn't pull away.

"No..." he whispered softly, trying to convince himself he didn't want it. But Raya knew now, even if he would never admit it. 

He still loved her.

"Why?" she purred, her confidence rekindled. 

He wanted her back, she could see it. But what he wanted rarely coincided with what he actually did.

She slid her firm fingers down his chest, running them through the many clasps and seals of the military jacket like a vine cat stretching its paws.

"I have work to do and you're a distraction," he grunted, trying to untangle himself from her deceptively strong arms.

"A really big di-" his words broke as she slid her hand down his pants and stroked what was not hers to touch.

"Mmmm.” She smiled. "So you are happy to see me..." A sultry whisper.

"S-stop," he managed to say, pulling her hand out. "I don't..."

Raya twisted her body around in a gymnastic tumble and ended up on top of him, face to face.

"You don't what? Have sex?" Raya inquired, undoing the clasp between her breasts. "Because I've heard a very different story from the Watchers."

"They don't..." He struggled against her.

"Oh, yes, they, do. It's their job to watch. Every. Single. Thing.”

She thrust her chest forward and leaned down to kiss him again. He turned away this time but Raya was persistent.

She brushed her bottom lip up the side of his face and whispered, _"Watcher 2 seems to have a thing for you... why don't we give her something to think about?"_

"I disabled the holocams..." he groaned, trying to ease her off but Raya had him pinned down. 

He could never beat her at wrestling.

"Oh, that's too bad." She pouted as she lay down on top of him, arms folded on his chest. "We could have taught those k'rahtu a thing or two..."

Soren gave up, letting his head fall back against the floor, his arm dangling over the precipice.

"Why must you make everything sexual?" He sighed.

"Because I'm good at it, ros'chah." Raya smiled seductively.

"And so were you if I recall correctly. Or have you gotten sloppy with all these Human v’runai?" She tapped his nose with a finger. "I heard at least three Minders _minding_ your ass as I walked through HQ."

Soren gave a tiny chuckle and she felt his chest twitch.

"Well, the Imperials aren't just speciesist and xenophobic.” Soren glanced down without lifting his head. “They're sexist too. Treat a woman with respect here and suddenly, you're husband material." 

"And how many times have you been married now?" She smiled, kicking up her heels playfully. "You always did look good in a suit."

"Three.” He smiled back.

"Only three?!" Raya shook her head, feigning disappointment.

"What? How many times have you been married?" he asked, playfully insulted.

"I'll have you know that I've had sixteen incredibly happy marriages that ended prematurely and another twelve which I simply don't have the time for," she declared, tapping his nose with a finger.

"And what happens when your husbands find you canoodling with another man?" Soren smiled mischievously.

Raya leaned in close to his face.

 _"I'll kill every last one of them,"_ she whispered, sinking into his sapphire lips.

They kissed her tenderly as he slowly lifted his head off the floor. He ran a hand up her neck, through her hair, his tongue caressing the inside of her mouth like he used to do. They rose off the ground, entwined in each other’s embrace, inseparable. 

Raya ravished his mouth and caught his bottom lip with her teeth, pulling back gently until the tiniest sliver of it remained in her clutches. 

She bit down hard, releasing him but tearing the lip ever so slightly. 

He leaned in again, pressing his mouth into hers and she could taste the blood, the sharp metallic tang as it spread over her tongue. Primal. Real.

Her hands raked across his chest, clawing at the thick armourweave jacket which squealed in protest. Her nimble fingers found the sealing strip and unbuckled the bandolier, letting the jacket flap open. 

She tore at his shirt, eager to spread her fingers over his muscular body, to feel him, to touch him, to love him but he broke away.

He combed back her hair and brushed a hand down her neck, sliding it between her breasts to pull apart the armoured bodysuit as it was designed to come undone. The bottom half peeled away, leaving her pale blue skin bare beneath the black bolero which remained on top. 

Raya rose up slowly, brushing her body against his face. Soren dug his thumbs into her hips and her pants slid down as she stood, lifting a long blue leg over his head. Two strong hands caught her thighs and Raya could feel the gentle kisses travelling up her leg, the caring tongue searching for the sweetest spot.

It didn’t take long for him to find and Raya gasped, bucking unexpectedly from the wave of pleasure it sent rolling through her body. He held her steady, increasing the pressure, his tongue grinding against her clit despite her body’s wild protestations.

She let her head fall back and closed her eyes. Her fingers gripped his head tightly as she struggled to keep still, her breathing hard and irregular. 

His hands slid over her hips, following the curve around her perfectly round cheeks as she shivered and panted with pleasure.

She remembered their first kiss out on the icy lake. He'd been so much smaller then, a wounded cub she needed to protect, but that was a long time ago.

She shuddered as he withdrew and breathed in the smell of her body. His face gently rubbed against her breasts as he rose and Raya had to look up to see his fiery eyes gazing longingly into her own, mouth open, breathing deep.

He was taller than her now but she kind of liked it. Looking up at him made her feel smaller but so did what she found in his pants. They fell away and they came together.

Freed from the confines of material bonds, their bodies merged as he lifted her into the air. Raya hugged his neck and wrapped her legs around him. She could feel the rise and fall of his chest as he carefully thrust his manhood into the tender opening between her legs. And she let it in, the euphoric feeling of their union sending shivers down her spine.

His member grew, caressing her from the inside, his tongue having already softened the passage with its kiss. And just as he reached the limit of her being, Raya sighed out a long silent moan. 

Soren pulled back, rocking gently as he felt his way around, probing for the right spot, the right pressure. 

Raya seized him with her pelvic floor, squeezing with every thrust he made and rocking in time. She felt the rhythm. The song their bodies sang when they were together and the beating of her heart, like a war drum in her ears. 

Breathing deeply and fully of each other's being, they silently and slowly made love high above the seemingly bottomless chasm beneath Kaas City.

With Soren, she didn't have to grunt or moan or scream like a wild animal as the Humans preferred. She could quietly enjoy the moment and trust he would read her subtle body cues to satisfy her, as only a Chiss could.

She reached out her arms and dug her fingers into his back, carving a loving path into his shoulder blades. He gritted his teeth and swung her around into the pylon to which Raya grinned wickedly, arching her back against the durasteel as she rode his erect member in smooth undulating motions.

She hadn't felt so good in years. 

A Sith had once come close to pleasing her but ended up finishing prematurely and summoning Force-lightning by accident. It had been a _stimulating_ experience, though she would not describe it as pleasant.

But with Soren, she felt complete. The tempered warmth of his body, those fiery red eyes and his touch, so careful and delicate. He would never hurt her, never take advantage of his strength. Every movement was made to please her and there was no one she could trust like that. No one she could love more.

She closed her eyes, lost in time. The stroke of his chas'vik beating against her soul.

Her mind slipped back to the snowy white courtyard where they would hide away from training sessions. The freezing cold had not deterred them from stripping down and making love as the frost bit into their skin. She remembered her surprise the first time he picked her up like she was weightless and the ecstasy of their burning bodies, tempered by cold and snow.

She felt the climax stirring within her, the pounding of her heart in her ears and gasped softly. 

A milky blue tear slid down her cheek as she finished, rolling down her face as her body tingled and sang. 

Soren let out a soft groan as he released his own burden. He had been holding out for as long as she needed it and the strain had him panting and sweating with effort.

He let his head fall, softly pressing into her forehead as they rested in each other's embrace. Their eyes closed, their bodies one. Content. Happy, even. 

Raya's long eyelashes fluttered open and she could spy a tiny smile on her lover's lips. It was infectious and she felt herself beaming as he gently set her down on the platform, separating at last.

Raya dizzily recovered her pants and slowly leaned down to stretch the fabric of her bodysuit back up her legs, reconnecting it to the free flying bolero. She leaned against the pylon to catch her breath and watch Soren straighten his tight grey uniform, his face flushed with violet.

"You got bigger," she gasped excitedly.

"Taller than you now," he panted back as he pulled on his trousers.

"That's not what I meant." She laughed.

"You still take forever..." he mumbled, sealing the jacket.

Raya beamed up at him as he adjusted his collar. 

She was happy. She was so happy.

Soren walked over and brushed the tear from her face.

 _"Ros'chah,"_ he whispered. _"What's wrong?"_

"Oh, nothing. I-" 

She felt more tears welling up in her eyes as he gently thread his hand into her hair. The burning red eyes which had been so cold when she first saw them were warm and worried. Hesitant. Like the boy she remembered.

"I missed you. I missed you so much," she relented and hugged him tight, burying her face in his chest as the suppressed tears spilled forth.

Soren's arms wrapped around her from both sides as she silently wept, leaning his cheek down on her head.

"I missed you too," he whispered. "Even though you drive me crazy."

The tears sniffled into a giggle as she pressed her ear against his heart, listening for the steady beat as it slowed over time.

"Why can't we just stay like this?" she sniffed. "Forever..."

"Well, because I'm going to need something to eat soon," he replied, checking his chrono.

As if on queue, Soren's stomach let out a low growl, amplified by Raya's proximity.

"You did that on purpose." She smirked at him.

"No, I really am starving. Imperial rations are awful," he told her.

"Why don't we go have dinner?" Raya asked on a one track mind.

"I have a mission, ros'chah.” He frowned. "We can't be seen together. You know how it is. I don't want anyone coming after you."

"I can take them," she replied instantly, breaking free of his arms and locking her hands onto her hips.

"I'm sure you can, but I can't have you blowing my cover," he explained. "Again."

"That business on Copero wasn't my fault, there were three other Chiss with the same name..." she began heatedly. “Half the men in the Ascendancy are called Oren.”

Soren brought a finger up to her soft blackened lips to stop her tirade in its tracks.

"We can't," he said simply. "I have a mission."

Raya realized he was talking about the Chiss Ascendancy. 

They had ordered him to infiltrate the Empire and he was already well-ingrained within Imperial Intelligence as a Cipher Agent. If they were seen together, it would raise questions and Sith with questions often had a loose temperament for lightning and torture. 

Both of them were trained to withstand such extraneous procedures but fatal accidents were more than commonplace in Sith work areas.

Raya didn't want to die and she didn't want Soren to die either. So she had to keep his little secret. They had to stay colleagues, at least on the surface.

"Fine," she said, watching him pick up his rifle and lift it over his shoulder. He pocketed the abandoned datapad on the floor and turned to see Raya's eyes fill with tears once more.

She lunged at him and squeezed him in a tight hug which he returned in kind.

"Don't forget me," she whispered.

"Never..."


End file.
